Events highlight west end

August 26, 2013

Ahhh. That, my friends, was the collective sigh of relief from those of us at the Chamber as we finished our Third Annual Mud Plunge. This event would not have been possible without the amazing support from our community partners - our title sponsors: Fox Negaunee, A. Lindberg & Sons, Bell Hospital, CrossFit 906 and the Marquette County CVB have done so much to ensure that this event is a success.

Volunteers, thank you to our volunteers! The volunteers have been amazing, especially under the direction of our "Volunteer Coordinator Volunteer," Andrea Jackson, from Jackson's 'Do It Best' Hardware. She truly did it best when she was making our course well-manned and safe for the runners.

Article Photos

Kori Tossava

Sandee Sundquist and the crew at Wilderness Sports continued to take my calls as we were frantically requesting additional shirts from the last-minute boom of registrations, not to mention coordinating the volunteers that conduct parking in the Upper Ski Bowl. Ryan and Michelle LaMere have done so much as chamber members and on the Suicide Hill Mud Plunge committee. Their support can't go unacknowledged as they spent their time volunteering and find more volunteers, planning the Mud Plunge After Party, and working to make sure we have enough 'fuel' for runners and volunteers.

With the exception of Ashley and me, the Mud Plunge Committee is entirely built up of volunteer community members and business owners. If you have never found yourself as part of a volunteer committee, it can be quite difficult to understand just how much of their free time that these members dedicate to our chamber and our community- they all already have 'full-time PLUS' jobs as it stands. Last, but not least, a final shout out has to go to Landon Stelwagon and Elizabeth Peterson, Dennis Whitley and Mike Ilmonen. In the case of the Suicide Hill Mud Plunge "the course is the thing." They spend an amazing amount of hours at the Ski Hill building obstacles, getting the course muddy enough, and making sure everything is safe for the hundreds of people that come down and race with us.

But now, the Mud Plunge is over and we can get back to business and the two upcoming chamber member events that you should check out. The first is the final Summer Concert Series in Ishpeming is Thursday. If you have not yet had a chance to go to one of these, I encourage you to do so. Kurt Gronvall has done a wonderful job of bringing this weekly event to downtown Ishpeming and supporting local musicians while giving the rest of us a truly entertaining evening.

The other is the grand opening of Yooper Shirts in their new location, Old Gossard Building (Pioneer Square Mall). Check the Yooper Shirts Facebook page for details.

Editor's note: Kori Tossava is executive director of the Greater Ishpeming-Negaunee Area Chamber of Commerce.